Leadership & People

LANXESS: Torsten Derr to be new Head of Material Protection Products business unit

Torsten Derr (38) has been appointed Head of the Material Protection Products business unit effective March 1, 2009. He is currently responsible for the Caprolactam business line in the Semi-Crystalline Products business unit. The current Head of the Material Protection Products business unit, Peter Weinmar (48), will take over as Head of the newly formed Japan/South Korea region as of July 1, 2009. At the same time, Weinmar will become Country Representative for Japan in succession to Hiroaki Ito (62), who will retire as of that date. „“With the newly created Japan/Korea Region we want to align ourselves even better to the demands of this important market for LANXESS,” remarked Axel C. Heitmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of LANXESS AG.

Torsten Derr was born in Bremen in 1970. He obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry from Bremen University in 1997 and began his career by joining Bayer AG under a research trainee program. In 1998 Derr transferred to that company’s Plastics Business Group, where he served first as a laboratory manager in plastics development and then as Head of the Knowledge Management department. He subsequently worked in the Corporate Planning department of Bayer AG for several years before moving to the Semi-Crystalline Products business unit in 2003. In 2007, Derr became Head of LANXESS’s Caprolactam business line.

The Material Protection Products business unit offers a broad range of biocidal active ingredients and preservatives. These high-quality products are complemented by objective and competent advice, registration management and research and development activities. The business unit belongs to LANXESS’s Performance Chemicals segment, which achieved total sales of EUR 1,970 million in fiscal 2007.

LANXESS is a leader in specialty chemicals with sales in 2007 of EUR 6.61 billion and currently around 15,000 employees in 21 countries. The company is represented at 44 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacture and sale of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.

Source: LANXESS